Disclaimer: Same as prologue

Chapter 37

The holidays were a long time coming, especially with Tom's excitement at finally being able to remain in the wizarding world for the entire holiday. Abraxas, Orion and Charlus had invited them to their respective manors and their plans to meet up had been confirmed weeks before the end of term feast in their excitement.

The whistle for the train blew a shrill sound that was easily heard over the chattering of all the students. Aidan and Tom were left standing on the platform as the train hurtled away from them throwing smoke into the air in great puffs. They waved until the train was out of sight, the action feeling incredibly strange after always being on the train every year previous and never having anyone to wave to anyway. They did not need to go back to London this year and they had an entire day to spend while the others were stuck on the stuffy train.

"What are we going to do?" Tom asked after the train was only a red blur surrounded by a mass of green in the distance. For all their excitement they had not really bothered to plan much which was showing to be a problem right now.

"I don't know," Aidan shrugged. "We could visit Aberforth or just wander around Hogsmead. I think there is a cave somewhere near the edge of Hogsmead that we could explore if we really wanted to."

Tom shook his head, a slight smile on his face. Aidan was always very Gryffindor-like in his planning; meaning he almost never planned and almost always just went with whatever was thrown at him.

"How about we stick to wandering around Hogwarts today? It's almost noon and we will have to return to the castle for lunch soon. We can wander Hogsmead tomorrow."

Aidan smiled ruefully, "See, this is why I never plan ahead. Other people always have better ideas than I do."

"Your idea isn't bad," Tom said looking at Aidan. "It's just your timing that is one day off."

Aidan stuck his tongue out at Tom, "Same difference."

Tom sighed. He probably was not going to win this argument. He never did with Aidan so he opted to keep quiet for the sake of his now rapidly decreasing reputation of never being beaten in an argument. He doubted he had much of that left but he was trying to save what little remained of it for as long as he possibly could.

Their walk back to the castle was relatively uneventful with the exception of Aidan insisting that they walked closer to the lake than Tom was really comfortable with, losing sight of the pathway more than a few times because they walked within the border of the Forbidden Forest. It was almost as if Aidan had some sort of internal tracking device because they saw Hogwarts far sooner than they would have had they taken the long winding path that was more commonly used even with the many turns and changes of directions Aidan subjected Tom to without hesitation. Tom was beginning to wonder if Aidan really even slept at night in their dorm with him knowing Hogwarts grounds as well as he did, which was much better than most of the students that had been there for seven years.

Tom was about to sigh in relief at the sight of the castle when he was suddenly shoved from behind. Tom was barely able to take a breath of air before he hit the surface of the lake's chilly water. He surfaced gasping for breath and shivering. The water was shockingly cold even though the weather was warm. He glared at Aidan who was laughing by the lake's edge at his expression. He could feel his hair sticking to his head as water made its way down the back of his neck and sides of his face. He moved towards the edge of the lake and Aidan was too busy laughing at his predicament. In a quick movement, Aidan was gasping at the cold as he was soaked in the lake water too.

Aidan had not stopped laughing though, even when he resurfaced while he gasped for breath. Somehow he managed to find the cold extremely funny, or maybe that was just the situation of them looking like drowned rats in the middle of the lake. That image made Tom laugh as well.

They managed to stop laughing and get out of the lake not long afterwards, both trailing water after them as their robes and clothing stuck to their body. They shivered violently as a breeze passed but lay down in a patch of bright sunlight, still breathless from their previous laughter.

Tom could not help but notice Aidan's body as his clothes clung to him like a second skin. He noticed Aidan's eyes on him as well and he could feel his cheeks heat up slightly. He quickly looked at the sky before Aidan could catch his gaze. Tom was not sure why he was feeling as embarrassed as he was but he could not really help it.

"That was fun," Aidan said breathlessly, "We should so do that again!"

Tom found himself reacting to the breathlessness Aidan's voice and he turned to lie on his side so Aidan would not notice before remembering that there was a drying charm he could use. Tom cursed himself within his mind and quickly cast the charm on himself, his newly dried clothing hiding what he did not want Aidan to notice.

Aidan sighed and cast a similar charm on himself. Tom was not sure whether he was happy over the fact that he could no longer be caught staring or disappointed at the fact that he could no longer stare.

"Hopefully next time you would be so kind to give me some sort of warning before you push me into the lake," Tom said in reply.

"You would not have agreed had I asked," Aidan said cheerfully, "but I promise I will give you some warning next time."

Tom really did not know how Aidan could be so cheerful over the entire situation, but he usually took everything so lightly that it was almost strange when he was serious about something to the point that no one ever bothered to argue against him. They had tried that in the beginning but soon found out that the things Aidan took seriously always had reasons that no one else could really argue and were usually important.

"We should head back to the castle soon. It looks like it's almost noon," Tom said as they were simply lying where they had been for no real reason. He regretted breaking up the peaceful moment but argued that there were many occasions where they could have the similar moments during the holidays. Tom was sure Aidan was getting hungry too.

Aidan made an agreeable sound and began to rise into a sitting position with Tom following suit. The walk back to Hogwarts was not long, something that gave Tom the feeling that Aidan had planned it like that as a precaution but neither of them mentioned it as they entered the castle just in time for the beginning of lunch.